Event: International Children’s Art Auction

Artwork created by children and professional artists from across the world will be displayed and auctioned for a fundraising event from 6:30 t0 9 p.m. Thursday, May 29, at the Bethlehem Central Middle School. Proceeds will help educate impoverished children in Belize and Uganda. The school is located at 322 Kenwood Ave. in Delmar.

Some of the artwork is created by children in other countries that are part of a global peace project coordinated by BCMS 6th grade social studies teacher Bill Reilly. The Global Coalition for Peace, Education and Cultural Awareness works to create a small international community of teachers and students who communicate, educate and collaborate to make the world a better place. The students of these schools communicate via e-mails, web sites and Skype. They also exchange greeting cards and produce music videos, making the Bethlehem students more globally aware and working on projects to build schools in villages where no schools exist.

Each year, the international children submit their art to be sold at the International Children’s Art Auction. Over the years, the proceeds from the sale helped to build schools in Belize, Zimbabwe and Uganda. This year, half of the proceeds will fund high school tuition for students in Belize through the local Albany based non-profit World’s Window Inc. The other half will fund solar panels for a school near Jinja, Uganda, through a Saratoga-based non-profit The Giving Circle Inc.

Bill Reilly will be traveling to Uganda to help install the panels and train teachers to use the new laptop and projector that he is bringing with him. The schools in the Global Coalition range from a small school in the middle of 130,000 acres of rain forest to a school located above the Arctic Circle. By bringing their artistic talents together, students are learning they can reach across the globe to bring their planet a better and more peaceful future.